The cost might be a lot lower than you think. The mechanics, sensors and computer and not that expensive. And the software is a fixed cost.
And it's already shaping up that we will have multiple competitors.
Inspection/Calibration might be comparable to current cars computers. Which is none. When the computer fails, you replace it.
"Assumes facts not in evidence. Elevators fail, bridges collapse, airliners crash, ships sink, anything designed and built by humans can and does fail, sometimes slowly, sometimes in a most spectacular manor."
Those facts are in evidence in other systems where machines have eliminated human error. Airliners are largely automated and have a much safer record per mile than do automobiles. Elevators rarely cause injuries, they have automatic safety brakes. Every ship collision I can think of was due to "Human error" not computer error. There will be some machine caused crashes but the Google self driven car already has an impressive number of miles with no collisions.
"I don't see updating your Facebook page, tweeting, texting, and sundry other such as being "productive". Chopping wood? I don't think so..."
How you use your time is up to you. You could read your work email, write reports, do homework, etc. Sometimes even facebook is productive. And if you update facebook in the car then you don't have to do it when you get to the office. Don't assume all work must occur either in an office or in front of a woodpile. Some people talk productively on the phone while driving, but the distraction is a hazard. Other's don't talk because they wan't to focus on driving.
You obviously have never had to cope with the elderly as passengers have you?
I have extensive experience with the elderly. Did you think that all elderly are exactly alike? Not all elderly that can no longer drive safely need assistance into and out of cars. And many elderly drive long after it is safe for them to.
Even for those that do need assistance, people at each end of the trip could assist without them to make the trip. You could load your parent in the car, and the doctor's office could have someone go out and assist them out of the car. Would you send someone off by themselves who had severe dementia? Probably not. But don't stereotype all seniors that way.
"You'd trust a kid with a $40,000+ vehicle, all by himself? You must be mad! What's wrong with a bike?"
Well for one my kids live too far from their school to bike. And two, the kid is NOT driving. The vehicle is driving. This is trusting a vehicle with your kid. Yeah, I'd want to see a safe track record. And I probably still wouldn't put a young kid in by himself. But my 6ft 14year old, no problem.
"And how does this unmanned vehicle unload itself when it gets to your house?"
There are many, many ways to solve this problem. A simple automated verification call confirming that you will be home, prior to packing the vehicle would suffice. Goods on a palette could simply be dropped off using an automated arm or tilting bed.
I dub you Gandalf_The_Negative.
I accept the appellation in so much as I am and always will be opposed to any advance in technology that decreases my freedom to do as I please, when I please. A "self driving" automobile will, in my opinion, serve as an "input terminal" to a vast government data base, tracking the movements of every citizen in real time.
I suspect that such a device will include an "off switch" accessible to police. I envision a day when if the police/government wants to have a talk with you they simply transmit a "stop" command to your vehicle which pulls you over to the curb and locks the doors.
Imagine what fun hackers could have with a transportation system filled with computer controlled vehicles. If you think that hackers are dangerous with the Internet (power grid, water and sewer infrastructure, &c). Picture the effect of sending random commands to accelerate and turn to the vehicles on the Interstate.
Advanced technology is always a knife that cuts both ways, no improvement is all good, sometimes the solution is worse than the problem...
Regards,
GtG
And if your 6' 14yo son decided to skip practice and spend a day at the lake with his 14yo girlfriend he wouldn't have to drive, just re-program the gps destination. You're right, he isn't driving, he's telling his "chauffeur" where to go.
G
Is that after the wreck it has caused with the "self driving" semi-truck?
G